Travelling is a good hobby. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page”. The purpose may vary from person to person, time to time. But before falling dead, every aspect of life has to be explored. Our recent exploration trip to North East largely focused on exploring Butterflies and Natural wonders.
Welcome to the Unexplored Jungle Forest of Talle Valley wildlife Sanctuary.
What is the purpose of life?
When was the last time you laughed at your heart?
When do you remember to have spent some good time for your own happiness?
When was the last time you went for a family outing?
When did you last meet a stranger and asked for your destination? If not recently, then plan for a trip.
Travelling is a good hobby. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page”. The purpose may vary from person to person, time to time. But before falling dead, every aspect of life has to be explored. Our recent exploration trip to North East largely focused on exploring Butterflies and Natural wonders.
I work in Bangalore. I am sharing my experiences in Arunachal Pradesh and Talle-Valley Wildlife sanctuary. My life in the city of Bengaluru is too fast. A large number of people, fastest growing city, too horrible traffic, unhealthy food, poor and poor life style, and on the other side good salary and advanced technologies and more. But being a nature lover, I always felt something was missing here. I am trapped here. Recently, I visited some North Eastern states and found out what I was actually missing. A trip to the Heavenly Places is what was missing in my life. The Beauty of the natural resources, the place and people cannot be described through simple words. You should travel, feel and enjoy the pleasure, which is exactly what I attempted.
Day - 1
How did we visit Talle Valley? Everything is a just an Accident. We were very lucky to meet Mrs. KojRinya, the first lady IFS in Arunachal Pradesh, at Ziro Butterfly Meet Valedictory event 2018. When we requested for Permission, she immediately accepted and told the formalities of Forest Department. The next day, early morning a small group of Butterfly Lovers visited Ziro Forest office and informed her. She granted permission to proceed to visit Pange, Talle Valley Wild life sanctuary. Talle Valley is another 12 kilometers from Pange.
Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary and a Biodiversity hotspot in Arunachal pradesh, India. Arunachal on the whole hosts 40% of the total floral and faunal biodiversity in India. Both the Ziro valley and Talle Valley have a good share of biodiversity. Situated, 30 kilometres from the town of Ziro, Talley is a plateau has a good mixture of dense forest filled with silver fir trees, pine clad plateau of beautiful grandeur, and a vast grassland. The area has some of the most important and endangered species including the clouded leopard. Talle camp is 30 km from Ziro, the headquarters of Lower Subansiri district. The gateway to the sanctuary is the Pange Camp which is 7 km from Manpolyang.
As we started our journey, we found it was difficult to move forward in any other vehicle othern than a four-wheel-drive jeep until the Pange Ranger Office. And our luck proved futile as no vehicle was available and it was becoming difficult to move forward because of to heavy rains. So, we got down at Manpolyang, and started our trek in the steep hills and muddy slippery road filled with leeches for a distance of eight kilometers.
The good rain added to the difficulty in climbing up the hills. The place is a trekker’s paradise nonetheless. However, almost of all our team members slipped and were bitten by blood thirst leeches before reaching the Pange Rest House/ Forest Office. You go to any corner of the walkway, 5-10 leeches would be eagerly waiting on the leaves to cling on to you and taste your blood.
We started hiking around 12 O’Clock and it took four hours to reach. Due to the continuous rain, we were not able to see much flora and fauna, spotted one Mother and calf of Wild Mithun (Gayal- State Animal of Arunachal), Malayan Squirrel and lot of bird calls and hardly few butterflies en route.
Another team from Mumbai, who came with us for the meet, also visited the same place. Despite booking two months in advance and traveling on a four-wheel drive jeep, it took six hours for them to reach the spot as the vehicle was stuck often on the way. They had to push the vehicle often and only their luggage enjoyed a bumpy ride.
When we finally reached the place, we were spell bound with the beauty of Mother Nature. Evergreen shola forest in the middle with green carpet Grasslands, Riverine beds, Iron bridge, crystal clear water, Mithuns, Horses, few abandoned rest houses added more beauty to the location.
Though both the teams reached the spot, we couldn’t get a rest house as our trip was not planned in advance. The Forest guards were kind enough to offer a place near the kitchen. We later found out that the spot was the best place for accommodation and very suitable to fight the cold conditions. Had we got a room, we would not have got a memorable experience. The Camp Fire, talking with each other, it was memorable evening overall. Our team consists of 10 people from South and West Bengal. We felt like staying in a 3 star accommodation in the jungle. Chaval, Dhal and vegetable curry was served as dinner. Cooked in the firewood, it tasted better and we had a comfortable sleep.
Day - 2
It was a beautiful morning but was lashed with continuous rains. We waited till 9 o’clock for the rain to stop, but it did not, yet we decided to start exploring. The forest Guard who accompanied took us to Talle Valley route for a total distance of 4 kilometres. We hardly found Bhutan glory eggs. Bhutan Glories lay eggs on Aristolachia plants. We spotted a few Bhutan glory flights from a long distance.
We also spotted Brown Gorgon Butterfly laying eggs on the canopy and sighted Chocolate Jungle Queen, Blue Tit and Pale hedge blues before returning to tour base camp. But when a call came from Sujith Karad, one of our team mates, people left their food plates, slippers, teas and whatever they had and ran to see and photograph this beauty. It was busy in nectaring and our friends were busy in clicking. Suddently, a large Wasp attacked the Bhutan glory. It fell on the water and was dying. There was no other go, one had to rescue by entering the pond.
I became the rescue party and took it in my fingers and it was crawling through my hand, shoulder, ears and head. That moment, I lost myself. Handling any butterfly is pleasure for us, but handling a rare Bhutan glory which is protected under Schedule – II of the Wildlife Protection Act, is a dream come true. I am really lucky. I know many could have photographed, or in late 80s collected for study purpose, but rescuing and the joy of handling is something that could not have happened for many. After observing some heat from my body, it regained some energy to fly to the terrace. After few minutes of Sun-basking, it flew to the sky and continued its life journey. My friends shouted Glory….. Glory…..
We had a wonderful and a memorable experience of a lifetime. Thanks to Mrs. KojRinya IFS. Ziro is famous for Apatani Culture, Agriculture, Ziro Market, Local Food and Fruits, traditional dress, dance and culture. And Talle Valley is also famous for Trekking, Orchids, Butterflies and Birds and other flora and fauna. We are eagerly awaiting the next season to explore more and more.
How to reach Talle Valley?
The formalities are very simple.
Arunachal Forest Department- Ziro office: http://arunachalforests.gov.in/talle_wildlife_sanctuary.html
Arunachal Tourism - http://www.arunachaltourism.com/talley-valley.phphttp://www.arunachaltourism.com/talley-valley.php
The author is the founder of Act for Butterflies organisation, Coimbatore.